Altar Boy

My parents paid tuition for me, as well as my older brother and sister, to attend a Catholic school from 1st to 8th grade with a couple of very brief interruptions (when we changed neighborhoods and I briefly went to a public school and a different Catholic school).

During the years I spent at St. Matthew Elementary School, I was taught by nuns (sisters) who lived next door in a convent. We went to church regularly where priests (brothers) said Mass, and I participated in all aspects including communion and confession. Another important event was the Confirmation ceremony.

St. Matthew was racially integrated, although all of my teachers and all of the priests were white throughout my time there. However, the student population changed considerably in those years, between the very late 1950s through the mid-1960s. In the beginning my school was majority white at about 60 percent, with approximately 25 percent black, 10 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Asian. By the time I graduated, the statistics for black and white students had changed to perhaps 35 to 40 percent white and about 40 to 45 percent black, with the rest remaining Hispanic and Asian. It was gradual, masked by continued educational excellence, but whites were rapidly moving away from the school's location on the West Side of Chicago.

Between roughly 6th grade and 8th grade, I was an altar boy who served during early morning Mass (7 am or 8 am and sometimes earlier), whether on specific weekdays or weekends, and for special holidays and events (I may have even assisted for one wedding). I alternated with other altar boys especially on Sundays when more than one Mass occurred. I usually arrived early, almost never failing to be present when scheduled. I learned several phrases in Latin and I assisted the priest in defined ways.

Certificate Knights of the Altar

(with my first name misspelled)

St Matthew Grade School

June 1964

However, not all altar boys were angels. Some of us were required to clean up and stock supplies (communion wafers and wine) in the sacristy — a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records (in some countries, it is known as the vestry). The sacristy was located inside the church. During times when four or five of us altar boys (some were rambunctious) were alone in the sacristy after events, some of the boys would joke around and even go so far on more than one occasion to sample the weak wine to see whether the alcohol had any effects. Some priests were also rumored to be somewhat alcoholic, and one tended to look and smell as though he drank a significant amount of wine.

However, the wine almost never produced any major buzz, as far as I could tell, in those who sampled it. Either the boys did not drink enough of it or it was simply too low in alcoholic content. I watched and laughed a bit but I almost never joined in any of these acts, mostly because I was a good kid and I didn't want to deal with the guilt. I didn't want to be caught by any of the priests, which almost happened more than once. I'm sure at least one or two priests knew that some of the altar boys were mischievous and curious about the wine, and they simply were not very concerned about it.

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